


Snow Day

by aosav



Series: Magical Realism Kid Fics [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, F/M, Kid Fic, M/M, Magical Realism, Sledding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 15:51:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10441302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aosav/pseuds/aosav
Summary: Uncle Tsukki holds down the fort during a delay in the sledding trip.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the same universe as my fic "The Greenhouse." Some people have magical abilities, including two of Yamaguchi and Yachi's children.

“Look, Uncle Tsukki!” Hotaru shouts, dropping to her knees in the snow and shoving her mittened hands down into it. Her face twists in concentration and, seconds later, the snow begins to steam and melt. “Hah!” she cries in delight, whipping around to grin at him. “See? See that, Uncle Tsukki?”

“It’s very impressive,” Tsukki tells her. Yachi will be furious when she sees. Hotaru’s mittens definitely didn’t survive that, and that’s the third pair she’s worn today.

Hoshiko leans forward on Tsukki's shoulders to see what her sister is doing. Tsukki grabs her a little more tightly to make certain she doesn’t fall.

“Do you want me to melt more snow, Hoshiko?” Hotaru asks, catching Hoshiko watching her. “Should I melt the snow on that rock?”

“How about you stay here with me and Hoshiko instead,” Tsukki suggests. He glances around, looking for Yamaguchi or Yachi. He cannot believe they left him alone with two of the kids at once. Surely it doesn’t take _both_ of them to change Hayate’s snowsuit.

He slips his phone out of his pocket, checking again to see if Tobio has texted him.

Nothing.

How long does it take to buy marshmallows?

“Uncle Tsukki,” Hotaru says, tugging on his sleeve, “my hands are cold.” She holds them up for him to inspect. Her mittens have been destroyed – the top part is completely gone and only the parts around her wrists have survived unsinged. Her little fingers look alarmingly pink and vulnerable in the cold.

Tsukki raises one eyebrow at her.

She giggles and wiggles her fingers at him through the gaping holes in her mittens. Hoshiko giggles as well, clearly finding the whole thing as funny as Hotaru does, and Hotaru grins up at her.

“What did you think would happen when you used your ability while wearing them, Hotaru?” Tsukki asks her, reaching up to tug his own mittens off with his teeth – first the right one, then the left one – shifting his grip on Hoshiko from hand to hand as he does it.

Hotaru shrugs and kicks her foot at the ground, her expression far from contrite. “I don’t knoooow,” she says, dragging the word out.

Tsukki hands her his mittens. “Take them off before you use your ability again,” he instructs her.

Hotaru pulls them on and beams. They are enormous on her, and they flop about ridiculously when she flaps her hands up and down. She and Hoshiko both laugh.

Tsukki smothers his own smile, remaining stern. “I’m serious, Hotaru,” he says, firmly. “Don’t burn them – we don’t have any more spare mittens left.”

“Okay, I’ll be careful,” she promises.

Tsukki doubts that, but it’s not like he can really be angry with her – she is very excited to be out for her first ever sledding trip, and she has been antsy since Yamaguchi and Yachi announced the excursion a few days ago. Now, with the delay of Hayate’s snowsuit needing to be changed out for one _not_ covered in mud, Hotaru is pretty wound up. And no one is here to deal with it except for Tsukki. Alone.

His phone buzzes and he pulls it out of his pocket. His fingers are already going a bit numb, and he almost drops it, catching it at the last second.

It’s Tobio, saying he’s almost here. Thank goodness.

“Uncle Tsukki,” Hotaru says, tugging on his sleeve again.

“Yes, Hotaru?” Tsukki says. He stuffs his phone into his pocket and then sticks his right hand in after it, leaving only one hand to be exposed to the cold while he holds Hoshiko in place on her perch.

“Uncle Tobio is coming to sled with us, right?” Hotaru says. She tugs on his sleeve more heavily, leaning a fair bit of her weight into it.

Tsukki shifts his stance so that she can’t unbalance him. “Yes, he’s coming,” he tells her. “He’ll be here soon.”

“When?” Hotaru asks.

“Soon,” Tsukki says.

“When is soon?” Hotaru asks, leaning even more of her weight onto Tsukki's arm.

Tsukki pulls his hand out of his pocket so that he can reach down and grab her hand. She releases his sleeve readily to hold hands with him, and she grins when Tsukki begins swinging their joined hands back and forth.

“Soon is probably fifteen minutes,”” he tells her. “But that’s just an estimate.” Hopefully it will be sooner. Tsukki loves these kids, but he is not cut out to babysit on his own. When he babysits, Tobio is always there with him, ready to run interference or take one or two of the kids off somewhere to cut through the madness.

“What’s an estimend?” Hotaru asks. She is putting weight on his arm again, swinging his hand harder and harder, essentially throwing herself back and forth while leaning on him.

“An estimate is an educated guess,” Tsukki says. He glances, again, back in the direction of the parking lot where Yamaguchi and Yachi disappeared almost ten minutes ago to change Hayate. Still no sign of them.

“Can you call him and ask him when he’s going to be here?” Hotaru asks. “He promised to sled with me.”

“And I’m sure he will just as soon as he gets here,” Tsukki assures her. “But he’s probably driving right now, so we shouldn’t call him.”

Hotaru sighs, loud and dramatic, still swinging Tsukki's arm back and forth energetically. Her ponytails bounce with the force she’s putting into it. “I want to sled now,” she whines.

Oh no. They are heading for a full-on meltdown if Tsukki doesn’t do something fast. None of the kids are prone to meltdowns, exactly, but Hotaru is only four, and the hype of the sledding trip seems to be having the effect of a sugar rush – and if it doesn’t pay off soon, there will be a crash.

“Hey, Hotaru, why don’t you make some fire to warm us up?” he suggests.

Hotaru immediately lets go of his hand and straightens up. “Okay!” she says, all traces of whining gone. She lifts her hands, about to start, and Tsukki rushes to remind her.

“Take the mittens off first,” he says.

“Oh, yeah,” Hotaru says. She tugs them off and holds them out to Tsukki. Tsukki takes them and puts them in his pocket. Then Hotaru goes at it.

“Ooh,” Hoshiko says, leaning forward again. Tsukki reaches up to steady her with both hands.

“Watch this, Hoshiko, Uncle Tsukki!” Hotaru declares. Then she lifts both of her hands above her hand, grinning, and shouts, jumping up into the air and generating a burst of tiny flames that shoot out form her tiny palms and quickly fizzle in the cold air.

Hoshiko claps wildly.

“Very impressive,” Tsukki says. “But how about –” he reaches out and gently guides Hotaru’s hands down, in front of her body “– not over your hair, okay?”

“Okay,” Hotaru agrees. “Watch this!”

Fortunately, enthusiasm for Hotaru’s little display from both kids lasts until Tsukki hears someone call out from behind him. He turns and breathes a sigh of relief when he sees who it is.

“You’re late,” he says, disapprovingly.

“Sorry,” Tobio says. “They were out of graham crackers, so I had to go to another store, too.”

“Uncle Tobio!” Hotaru shrieks, immediately abandoning her fire tricks to run and launch herself at Tobio.

Tobio catches her without slowing down, still coming towards Tsukki. He lifts Hotaru onto his shoulders, mimicking how Tsukki is carrying Hoshiko.

He’s wearing the soft blue scarf that Tsukki gave him two winters ago, a puffy snow coat, and huge snow boots. He looks adorable.

“Where are your mittens?” Tobio asks, frowning, once he gets close to Tsukki.

Tsukki pulls them out of his pocket and offers them to Hotaru as she and Tobio stop beside him; Hotaru takes them with a chirped “thank you” and puts them on.

“We had an incident,” Tsukki tells Tobio.

Tobio leans over and kisses his cheek. Then he pulls his own gloves off and offers them to Tsukki.

Tsukki rolls his eyes. “I’m fine,” he says.

“You get cold more easily than I do,” Tobio says. He shoves the gloves at Tsukki, staring at him earnestly.

Tsukki sighs and takes them. Tobio is stubborn, especially when it comes to taking care of him. And besides, Tsukki's fingers really have gone numb. When he pulls them on, he sighs again, this time because of how good they feel. They’re warm from Tobio's hands.

“Thanks,” he says, flexing his fingers. He winces at the tingle as they begin to warm up again.

Tobio nods, obviously pleased with himself, looking at Tsukki with a shine of fondness in his eyes. His hair is a mess – Hotaru has been running her re-mittened hands through it repeatedly since Tobio picked her up – and his cheeks are flushed from the cold. He’s adorable. And that scarf looks fantastic on him, matching his eyes almost exactly. He looks like he belongs on a postcard.

“Where are Yachi and Yamaguchi?” Tobio asks then, looking away from Tsukki to glance around as if he only just noticed that they aren’t here.

“Hayate got dirty, so they have to change his clothes,” Hotaru announces. She leans over and waves her hands in front of Tobio's face, giggling when Tsukki's mittens almost slide off, and then grabs onto Tobio's head to balance herself. Her grip musses Tobio's hair even more, making it stick up a bit where she’s ruffling it.

Tsukki's lips twitch at the sight. Tobio's eyebrows draw down in confusion, but Tsukki just shakes his head. He’ll tell him how cute he looks in his snow day outfit later.

“That was the second incident,” Tsukki informs Tobio. “Before that, we lost a pair of gloves.” He glances at Hotaru, who giggles again – at least she seems to have completely gotten over her earlier impatience. “We’ve lost a few pairs of gloves today,” he says.

“Should I go get more?” Tobio asks. He puts his hands on Hotaru’s sides, as if to lift her down, but Tsukki grabs his arm to stop him.

“Do not leave me,” he says, very calmly. They only barely avoided a meltdown before Tobio got here. Tsukki does not want to deal with a meltdown on his own. He isn’t cut out for this.

Slowly, Tobio nods and lowers his hands. Then, just as slowly, he reaches out and takes Tsukki's hand in his own, linking their fingers together. Tsukki meets his eyes and nods at him, once, in appreciation. Tobio squeezes his hand in response.

“When are we eating s’mores, Uncle Tobio?” Hotaru asks, leaning down again to try to see Tobio's face.

“After we sled,” Tobio says. “We’re having a fire at your house in the backyard.”

“And I can eat all the s’mores I want,” Hotaru says confidently.

“You’ll have to discuss that with your parents,” Tsukki tells her. He isn’t about to tell her she can’t have all the s’mores she wants. He’s the uncle – he’s supposed to be here for the fun stuff, not for denying her s’mores and dealing with meltdowns. He looks around again, then, to check for Yamaguchi and Yachi, and feels relieved when he sees them coming with Hayate skipping between them and wearing a fresh snowsuit.

“Oh look, I think it’s time to sled,” Tsukki declares.

“Finally!” Hotaru shouts. “I thought I was going to _die_.”

“Will sledding save you?” Tsukki asks her, keeping his tone serious.

“Absoloosely,” Hotaru says, mimicking Tsukki’s serious tone and nodding. “I need to sled.”

“You heard her, Tobio,” Tsukki says. Then he reaches up and taps Hoshiko’s snow boot. “Do you want to sled, Hoshiko?” he asks.

“Yes,” Hoshiko says. “I want to sled too.”

Tsukki lifts her off of his shoulders and puts her down in the snow. She looks like a bright green marshmallow.

“Go on, then,” Tsukki says, waving his hand at the three of them. “Uncle Tobio will take you sledding.”

Tobio dutifully picks up one of the brightly colored plastic sleds from the pile at Tsukki's feet, takes Hoshiko’s hand in his own, and heads for the hill with Hotaru shouting her delight from his shoulders.

Tsukki watches him go. He might allow himself to be pulled into it later, but he’ll let Tobio and the parents deal with the initial crazed rush.

As if to demonstrate how crazed that crazed rush will be, Hayate sprints by him just then, shrieking in delight and making a bee-line for Tobio and his sisters. He flickers in and out of sight as he runs, sometimes showing up neon orange against the white snow in his snowsuit and sometimes seeming to be nothing but a set of rapidly appearing footprints.

Yamaguchi runs by right after him, pausing only long enough to snag another sled from the pile and nod distractedly at Tsukki and before hurrying after Tobio and the kids.

Yachi does not follow him. She stops beside Tsukki and watches the fluorescent little group make its way up the hill.

“Thanks for keeping the girls while we changed him,” she says, addressing Tsukki but keeping her eyes on the kids. “Hayate is a two-person job when he’s wound up, and the last thing we wanted was to have him running around naked and invisible in the snow.”

Ah, right. Hayate can be a handful in that way. Tsukki didn’t think of that.

“It’s no problem,” he says. It wasn’t, exactly. It was a bit stressful, but spending time with the kids is never a problem. He loves them. “Still,” he adds, “I’m glad I’m just the uncle. Coming in for the fun stuff is how I like it.”

“Says the man who changed probably five hundred diapers when they were little,” Yachi says playfully. She grins up at him. Her snow coat is fluorescent just like her kids’ – it is a truly alarming shade of purple.

“That was different,” Tsukki tells her, because it was. “I didn’t have to tell them no, then; I just had to handle their poop.”

“You big softie,” Yachi says. It sounds like she’s laughing at him. She shakes her head, her blonde hair sticking to her cheeks. “You and Tadashi both.”

“It’s not like Tobio can tell them no either,” Tsukki points out, feeling a little affronted by her tone.

“No, he can’t,” Yachi agrees. She shakes her head again and laughs, bright and clear. “How did _I_ end up the tough guy?” she asks, tugging at her paisley scarf and ducking her chin down into its folds.

“You’ve always been tough,” Tsukki says, glancing down at her. She tilts her head, looking up at him with a stupidly fond smile on her face, her rosy cheeks scrunching up. The pom-pom on her hat bounces to the side and dangles there. Tsukki rolls his eyes and looks away again, towards the sledding group where Yamaguchi and Tobio are clearly trying to negotiate the first runs down the hill. “Stop that,” he tells her.

Yachi wraps her hand around his arm and leans her head against him. “Big softie,” she says again.

Tsukki sighs, long-sufferingly, and watches Tobio situate himself with Hayate and Hotaru both on his lap while Yamaguchi helps get them into position with one hand and uses the other to hold onto Hoshiko.

He doesn’t respond to Yachi's accusation this time. Instead, he tilts his head down towards her and wiggles his fingers in Tobio's gloves.

“Hey, it’s snowing,” Yachi says, suddenly. She sticks her tongue out.

Tsukki snorts.

Yachi elbows him. “Come on,” she says. “Live a little.”

He glances around. There’s no one here but them, so it doesn’t matter if he looks a little ridiculous. It’s just family.

So he sticks his tongue out as well, grinning around it as Yachi's laughs rings out again, mingling with the screams of delight coming from the kids as they take off down the hill. He doesn’t catch a snowflake, but he does catch Yachi's eye. They both have their tongues sticking out, leaning slightly forward, with Yachi's hand still on his arm holding them together. They definitely look ridiculous.

When Yachi starts laughing again, still holding his gaze, so does Tsukki, both of them leaning into each other heavily, balancing each other in the snow. And that’s how they stay, right up until the tornado that is the triplets comes blowing back in and drags them both into the fray, towards the hill that is covered with tiny footprints marking out joyous paths beneath the lightly falling snow.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to introduce Hinata and his family in this fic, but Hotaru was being demanding and then Yachi wanted a moment with Tsukki, so. Next time.


End file.
